Scott Fulton working on a model of an Emperor Alexander apple affected by apple scab disease: Malus pumila (Model 813).
Luffa cylindrica (Model 272), Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, 1892. The Archives of Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka and The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, Harvard University © President and Fellows of Harvard College.
You can read all about this fascinating restoration at The Creators Project.
That’ll keep a bunch of students busy for a long time.
I just noticed that the subtitle of Affinity is “Art, Fun & Nonsense.” Hrrmm, I wonder which category I’m filed under.
Oh. Wow.
It’s hard to believe they’re glass -- a work of a lifetime. Glad to see they’re getting some love and attention.
I have a little very old book about the glass flowers of Harvard. I’m glad they’re getting care and I’d love to see them some day.
I would love to see them. It’s easy to see why they keep them locked up, the temptation to touch them would be overwhelming.
Touch them? Don’t let the Vice President near them.
Glass, fragile and stable at the same time. I’d be afraid to touch them. I hope they will still exist in ten thousand years and there will be people viewing them and making comparisons to the flora of the time.
I’ve seen them several times (Daughter #1 just finished her graduate degree at Harvard) and they aren’t locked up.
They are on display, just like other museum specimens, in cabinets with lots of room to view. The unfortunate thing is that all too few people understand how important they are.
fusilier
James 2:24
Those are absolutely amazing!!!
Imagine how great it must feel to be able to work with/on something some timelessly excellent.
They are amazing!!! I saw them with my husband several years ago. At first, I thought I was looking at glass sectional models with real pieces of plant…then I saw a sign that explained that everything in the cases was made of glass! Talk about being awed.
According to one sign in the exhibit, the most common question the docents hear is “So, where are the glass flowers?”
Or I should say, everything attached to the mounting panels in the cases. The panels are something less fragile.